Have you been watching the games in Sochi? I’ve been trying to watch a little of the Olympics every day, but not the highlight reels NBC puts on in primetime. I’m watching the live video online.

If you’ve found this difficult or even impossible, or if you don’t know it exists, you’re excused. NBC hasn’t made it easy to view the live streams. Part of this is due to the extreme time difference. The games take place between 1 a.m. and 1 p.m. our time, so seeing them live means foregoing sleep or having a less-than-productive morning.

Viewing NBC’s live streams means finding them first. NBC is heavily pushing replays on its Olympic site (nbcolympics.com), since most people aren’t awake for the live streams. If you can find the live streams (they’re in the Live Extra section of the site), you’ll need to authenticate yourself first. This means proving you’re a pay TV customer. Once again, NBC is limiting live streaming to people who pay for cable or satellite TV.

If you’ve made it this far, you can enjoy all the live streams you’re awake for. In my viewing, the video quality is good, but I’m not impressed with the presentation.

There aren’t multiple camera angles to choose from, and NBC doesn’t let you watch multiple streams at once in the same window. Also, the menu for live events isn’t presented well: it’s hard to see at a glance what events are currently live.

And then there are the ads. Wow, are there ads. NBC stuffs commercials into every spot it can, often overriding the expert commentary that provides depth on the sport.

I expect better in two years, when the Olympics will be in Brazil. There will be less of a time difference then, and the Summer Games get more attention. Sadly for U.S. viewers, NBC will still be running the show.

Follow TROY DREIER at http://twitter.com/TDreier or e-mail him at loggedon@mac.com.